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Missouri Swine Inventory Expands

(COLUMBIA, MO) -The September 1, 2007 inventory of Missouri
hogs and pigs is estimated at 3.05 million head, up 300,000 head
from a year ago and 50,000 head above the June 1, 2007 inventory. “This
is the largest inventory since December 1999 and is due to the increasing
number of sows that farrowed last quarter and the record litter rate”
according to Gene Danekas, Director of Missouri Agricultural Statistics.
Breeding hogs are estimated at 380,000 head, up 25,000 head from a year
ago and 10,000 head above last quarter. Market hogs are
estimated at 2.67 million head, up 275,000 head from the same period last
year and 40,000 head above June 1, 2007.

The June-August 2007 pig crop totaled 1.74 million head,
13 percent above the same quarter a year earlier and the comparable period
two years ago. This is the largest June-August pig crop since 1979 and
the largest quarterly pig crop since September-November 1997. There were
190,000 sows farrowed during this quarter with an average of 9.15 pigs
per litter. This is the largest number of sows farrowed since the September-November
quarter in 1999 and the highest number of pigs saved per litter on record.

Farrowing intentions for September-November 2007 are
forecast at 185,000 sows, 10,000 sows more than the actual farrowings
during the same period last year and two years ago. December 2007-February
2008 farrowings are forecast at 180,000 head, unchanged from a year earlier
and 15,000 sows above the number that farrowed two years ago.

United States Hog Inventory Up 3 Percent

U. S. inventory of all hogs and pigs on September 1,
2007 was 64.6 million head. This was up 3 percent from both September
1, 2006 and June 1, 2007. Breeding inventory, at 6.14
million head, was up 1 percent from last year, and up slightly from the
previous quarter. Market hog inventory, at 58.5 million
head, was up 3 percent from both last year and last quarter

The June-August 2007 pig crop, at 27.5 million head,
was up 4 percent from each of the last two years. Sows farrowing during
this period totaled 2.99 million head, up 3 percent from 2006 and up 2
percent from 2005. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 49
percent of the breeding herd. The average pigs saved per litter was 9.19
for the June-August 2007 period, compared to 9.11 last year. Pigs saved
per litter by size of operation ranged from 7.50 for operations with 1-99
hogs and pigs to 9.30 for operations with more than 5,000 hogs and pigs.

U. S. hog producers intend to have 2.96 million sows
farrow during the September-November 2007 quarter, up 1 percent from the
actual farrowings in 2006, and up 2 percent from 2005. Intended farrowings
for December 2007-February 2008, at 2.94 million sows, are up 1 percent
from 2007, and up 4 percent from 2006.

The total number of hogs under contract, owned by operations with over
5,000 head, but raised by contractees, accounted for 40 percent of the
total U. S. hog inventory, up from 39 percent last year.